


Crossroads

by ThayerKerbasy



Series: The Path Not Taken [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Episode: s12e08 LOTUS, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-18
Updated: 2020-05-18
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:07:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24259390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThayerKerbasy/pseuds/ThayerKerbasy
Summary: If things had gone only a little differently, how Crowley's path might have been altered.
Series: The Path Not Taken [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1973947
Comments: 9
Kudos: 17
Collections: SPNColdestHits





	Crossroads

**Author's Note:**

  * For [demonologistindenim](https://archiveofourown.org/users/demonologistindenim/gifts).



With Lucifer safely locked away in the Cage thanks to the Winchesters and their magic golden egg from the British Men of Letters, Crowley should have felt…something. Lucifer, after all, had been the thorn in his side throughout his entire reign as King of Hell. Knowing their king had the power to lock away their god should have secured his right to rule over all demonkind for years to come. Satisfaction, relief, triumph — there were any number of possible relevant emotions, he should have at least felt some semblance of one of them.

Instead, all Crowley could think of was the sight of the government agents carting away the Winchesters for the crime of kidnapping their archangel-possessed president. While he had no doubt the ever-resourceful duo would manage to escape captivity eventually, every day they were locked up was one in which they weren’t looking for Lucifer’s baby mama, never mind the British Men of Letters who had plans to expand their operations in ways the brothers most definitely would not condone were they not incarcerated.

Mentally kicking himself, Crowley turned his attention to the latest soul reports, repressing the groan that threatened to escape him. It was going to take entirely too much time and energy to get through the paperwork he himself had reworked when he took the throne. Not only did he need to get caught up on what had gone undone while Lucifer was on the throne, but he also had to retrain all the useless bootlickers who’d been so quick to revert to their base moronic selves when in sight of the archangel who refused to give them the time of day.

Every time he tried to focus on Hell business, his attention drifted. That was nothing new. Hell was boring. He’d much rather be out searching for the devil’s fleeing inamorata, or even fishing for information from Hess about the British Exterminators of Monsters and their North American plans.

That thought stopped all the others in their tracks. Backing up, Crowley examined it more closely, but came up with the same conclusion. He would rather be doing the Winchesters’ job than his own. He would rather do something that meant something and had a real positive impact on the world. The fact that it would hinder the plans of his rivals was merely a pleasant side effect.

He had thought power would bring respect and admiration, but even if he could eventually make the wretched demons respect him, it would never be what he truly desired. If he was being honest with himself, he wanted to be done with Hell altogether.

Setting the paperwork to one side, Crowley called for a minion. “Gather the troops. I want everyone out hunting for the one carrying Lucifer’s spawn. I don’t care what it takes, find them.”

There, that was a task demons could understand. If he couldn’t be quit of them immediately, he might as well put them to good use. The sooner he could find Kelly Kline, the sooner he could bring her to Cas — and hopefully the Winchesters by then — as a sign of his allegiance.

In the meantime, Crowley had another task to handle. Once the toadying lickspittle was gone, Crowley got out his phone and made a call. “Put me through to Dr. Hess. There’s something we need to discuss.”

**Author's Note:**

> Given that [this month's theme for Coldest Hits](https://spncoldesthits.tumblr.com/post/613686990812119040/may-2020-prompt-ascended-demon-posting-dates-may) called for the Ascended Demon trope, one might think I'd have an easy time of it. After all, that's basically all I write. Unfortunately, since that _is_ basically all I write, I found myself short on ideas. I'd very much love to see this one play out, but I have no desire to write the only slightly different storyline that would come of it. This little snippet, however, is just enough to show how possible it was.


End file.
